Rail joint



Nov. 17, 1936. G. LANGFORD RAIL JOINT Origina l Filed May 1, 1935 0 0 a a Z 7QQ R! a M a HM Z Patented Nov. 17, 1936 UNITED Original applicatio STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,060,996 RAIL JOINT George Langford, Joliet, Ill., assignor to Mc- Kenna Process Company of Illinois, Joliet, 111., a corporation of Illinois n May 1, 1935, Serial No. Divided and this application December 2, 1935, Serial No. 52,526

4 Claims.

rails.

Crowning, oversizing,

incurving and other shapings of bars to repair worn rail joints are so well known that any description of the present state of the art appears unn ecessary. My invention is a bar shaped for use on worn rails. Its

novelty lies in its form and in the new and useful purpose it accomplishes. Its main purpose is to secure a proper fitting worn as to. prevent proper to rails so variously fitting with any one known form of bar of its type. My invention will be clearly understood from the following description and accompanying drawing. It is a divisional application arising out of my copending application, Serial No. 19,158, filed May 1, 1935..

.All of the figures of the drawing represent cross-sectional views of one These views are taken at the the joint where most All of the figures are similarly worn rail joints. central six inches or .so of wear occurs. lettered.

In the drawing:--

sideof the top of Fig. 1 represents a moderately worn joint comprising a bar of ordinary head contact type; i

Fig. 2 represents the worn rail. of Fig. 1 to which is fitted an unworn bar of head free .type; except that the joint.

Fig. 3 is similar to Fig. 1

is badly instead of moderately worn;

Fig. 4 illustrates the type in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 5 illustrates the type in Fig. 3;

of rail wear present of rail wear present Fig. 6 represents the bar of my invention fitted to a rail worn as in Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 represents the bar of my invention fitted to a rail worn as in Fig. 5.

In the shaping of barstofit worn rail ends, the most common custom is to crown or make oversized the top central fishing surface of a bar of This ,results in a bar of oversized or above normal fishing height 'at the central portion at least of the joint.

The

greatest wear in a joint is for six inches or more at thetop central portion, and so the top fishing.

surface of the bar is crowned there to compensate for the worn, increased rail ends.

fishing height of the In addition to the. above practice, there is considerable use of bars of. head.- free type on worn A head free bar has clearance at its top,

rails.

. from the under surface of the rail head. Its fishing surface engagement occurs on its top worn or unworn, its contact being with the rail 10 head fillet. If an ordinary head contact bar had been previously used, presumably its lack of contact with the'rail head fillet would have leftthat fillet unworn, and the top inner fillet of the head free bar would fit into it regardless of the wear on its under surface. This is true in some cases but not in others as I have determined by observation.. I r

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary top end View of the central portion of a worn rail joint. I represents therail head, and 2 the head or top member of the bar, the latter being of head contact type.

The same is true of all the figby dotted lines.

lettering is used throughout,

ures, and the same for convenience of explanation.

In Fig. 1, the original contact surface ab ofthe rail has shifted by wear to a'b', leaving in many cases a rail-lip a-a'. Fig. 1 may be designated as a good example of a moderately worn joint. The bar head has been drawn in, but not enough to engage at b'-c" with the rail fillet although they lattercL-c is somewhat shortened at its top by the jog b-d where the bar fillet b"--c' has partially intruded.

Fig. 2 represents an ordinary head free bar fitted to the worn rail head of Fig. 1. This bar has, rail fillet contact at d-c less than it would have. had on the unworn rail, and it cannot soon gather up any increase by wear farther out at b as intended, for the reason that the rail surface originally a-bis worn beyond its reach to a-b. Increased wear of the rails over that shown in Fig. 1, would make this condition worse.

In Fig. 3, the wear of the head contact bar in Fig. 1 has progressed until the bar fillet b-c has contacted and Worn away the rail fillet so that thelatter is now b-c Obviously the normal head free bar of Fig. 2 contacting only at 0 can 5 not be fitted suitably to the worn rail head of Fig. 3 Without some alteration. To fit surface b-c it must be made crowned or oversized at its I central portion to fill up the space b'-d-c However if this be done to suit the worn rail condition of Fig. 3 it will encounter an obstacle in the irregular surface bdc present in the worn rail condition of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 represents the moderately worn rail condition of Fig. 1, and Fig. 5 represents the badly worn rail condition of Fig. 3. Evidently the same head free bar cannot fit both, and any compromise would not be satisfactory, and more than would a crowned or uncrowned head contact bar. Inasmuch as the head free bar depends primarily upon rail fillet contact, its top inner fillet 5 of Fig. 2 should be uncrowned when used on the rail of Fig. 5. The present state of the art of fitting bars to worn rails exacts greater precision than can be arrived at by any compromise in a bar of this kind to suit the two worn conditions, commonly occurring as are represented by Figs. 4 and 5.

In the manufacture of ordinary crowned head contact bars, I have found another obstacle to precise fitting. This obstacle is the rail lip a-a resulting from wear. It is not always present but occurs frequently and I find it a considerable source of trouble. When a head contact bar is crowned, its top outer corner is at a. If the rail lip aa is present, as it frequently is, the result is an unsatisfactory fit.

My invention is a bar adapted to the two worn rail conditions of Figs. 4 and and to the obstacle presented by the rail lip aa, none of which are met by any design of bar that I know of. The bar of my invention is also designed to secure as much area of fishing contact at the central portion of the joint as can be secured. The space is limited beneath the rail head, and the width of contact ab in a head contact bar, is considered by many engineers as not enough. This width of contact is less and at least no greater in a head free bar than in one of head contact type.

My invention has as its basis a bar of full head contact type, on which U. S. Patent No. 1,759,458 was issued to me May 20, 1930. This bar has rail head contact a-b plus rail fillet con-' tact b'c. Its top outer corner instead of being at a is spaced substantially inward, thereby avoiding the rail lip aa' and overcoming one of the difiiculties previously described. The present invention comprises crowning the rail head contacting surface a-b but not the rail head fillet contacting surface b-c. The top of this bar and its application to the worn rail conditions of Figs. 4 and 5, is shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

In Fig. 6, the bar is fitted to a worn rail similar to that of Figs. 1 and 4. The top fishing surface is raised to a'b' at its central portion, and contacts the worn surface a'b' of the rails at the joints central portion.

Fillet dc of the bar is normal and uncrowned so as to fit the rail head fillet dc The rail fishing contact is then ab plus dc This is much more central contact than is possible in the case of the head contact or of the head free bar.

Fig. '7 represents the bar of Fig. 6 fitted to a badly worn rail similar to the rail of Figs. 3 and 5. There is rail head contact a'b', but although there is contact at 0 there may be little or no rail fillet contact on d---c above 0 bdc on first application represents more or less empty space, for the reason that the bars fillet 11-0 is not crowned or enlarged to fill it. If fillet dc of the bar were crowned or enlarged, it would encounter the obstacle bdc present in the worn rail of Fig. 6. In Fig, 7 as wear occurs at a--b' and this surface of the Joint shifts upward, gap bdc will close, and there will eventually be full head contact in Fig. 7 as in Fig. 6. The bar of my invention has the important object of avoiding the obstacle bd--c present in cases of moderate rail wear. Contact d---c is lost initially but it occurs by wear eventually. Furthermore although there may be some loss of this contact initially there is still an initial contact ab to depend upon,

. and this contact is at least no less than is available in the ordinary head contact or head free bar.

Briefly described, my invention is a full head contact bar crowned on its top surface and uncrowned on its top inner fillet. More specifically the novelty is restricted to the central portion of the bar, the end portions being of any shape that permits the central fitting as described.

The rails to which such a bar is fitted are limited to ones of ordinary type on which either ordinary head contact or full head contact bars may be used, the under side of the rail head being a surface in one plane from the top of the headweb fillet to the outer corner of the under side of the rail head, and the rail head being as wide at least at the bottom as at the top. The bar itself is restricted to a top contacting surface conforming to the under side of an ordinary type of rail as previously defined. The central crowning of this top surface, and the absence of central crowning on the top inner fillet is the substance of my invention, such a structure being adaptable to worn rails of ordinary type wherein the rail head-web fillet is either worn or unworn centrally.

My invention may also be applied to an ordinary head contact bar. In Fig. 1, which shows a head contact bar worn in a joint, it will be noticed that the top inner fillet of the bar encounters the obstruction b'--d in a rail worn as in Fig. 1. If the top inner fillet were not raised above its normal rail fishing height, it would not be obstructed at b'd. This would permit of the bars longer useful life as a head contact bar and would further continue its life as a full head contact bar in such cases where the bottom member so provided.

The end portions of the bar are made of less effective rail fishing height than the center portion either by reducing their height to normal or below normal by deflecting them outwardly or bottom as at the top, it is not thought necessary to illustrate the application of my invention to a bottom fishing surface.

What I claim is:

1. In a worn rail joint including worn rail ends of ordinary type, a bar comprising a central portion with its top surface in fishing contact with the under side of the heads of the worn rail ends and with its top inner fillet in contact with the bottom at least of the corresponding rail head fillet, said top surface of said central portion of the bar being raised to above normal fishing height, and said inner fillet being of normal and uniform height throughout the center portion and end portions of the bar.

2. In a worn rail joint including worn rail ends of ordinary type, a bar comprising a central portion with its top surface in fishing contact with the under side of the heads of the worn rail ends and with its top inner fillet in contact with the corresponding rail head fillet, said top surface of said central portion of the bar being raised to above normal fishing height, and said top inner fillet being of normal and. uniform height throughout the center portion and end portions of the bar.

3. A rail joint bar providing for top and bottom fishing contact at its center portion and end portions with worn rail ends of ordinary type and having one at least of its top and bottom fishing surfaces raised to above normal nail fishinig height at its center portion at least, the inner fillet of the bar at said center portion being of not above its normal rail fishing height.

4. A rail joint bar for use on worn rails of ordinary type, wherein the head-web fillet of the rails may or may not have become worn at the center portion of the joint, said bar providing for top and bottom rail fishing contact at its center portion and end portions, the top surface of the bar being raised to above normal fishing height at its center portion to provide contact with the worn under side of the head at the center portion of the joint, and the top inner fillet of the bar being of normal height at its center portion and end portions, and in contact with the head-web fillet of the rails and unworn portions of said head-web fillet when the bar is applied to the rail ends in a joint.

GEORGE LANGFORD. 

